Clea finds its way to the Nintendo Switch after a successful run as a PC game only. With many favorable reviews on Steam, I was curious to find out what the fuzz was about.
Chaos Servants
Clea and her brother Edward find themselves at the diner table of Whitlock Mansion when suddenly monsters have been let loose. It appears that mum and dad were experimenting on some occult stuff which made the Whitlock mansion a death trap. With the help of your maid, you and your brother manage to escape the first encounter with the dreaded Chaos Servants. It turns out Whitlock mansion is a massive place that happens to be filled with many intricate mechanisms to keep you locked in. With a bunch of monsters running wild and on the lookout for you and your brother, you need to solve puzzles all while hiding and running from the monsters.
Peek-a-boo
Clea and her brother only have a candle to get through the spooky mansion. One encounter with a monster ends the run immediately and sets you back to a save point. These save points come in the form of birthday cakes sparsely scattered around the mansion. Clea is fully played in a 2D setting. You can press the shoulder buttons to look behind or ahead to foresee the dangers. While this looking around mechanic does work, the sound is the main thing that warns you of potential dangers. While the bad guys make sound, you do too so being stealthy is highly advisable. If you happen to make too many noises it will surely attract the attention of the Chaos Servants.
Once the Chaos Servants are on to your presence, you’ll have to outrun them and find a safe place to hide. If you manage to get away from their pointy grasp you can “reset” the danger level by getting in the many closets around the mansion. If the Chaos Servants see you enter a closet it’s game over. Besides the Chaos Servants, Clea has to face other creepy crawlies too in the Whitlock mansion. Each of these has a special way to avoid it. The spider looking creatures for instance have to be looked right in the face while standing still. If a Chaos Servant is chasing you and you happen to come across a spider you can imagine how tense the situation gets.
Suspense
Clea is all about suspense and not about jump scares. The audio element is the main reason this simple 2D horror game actually is scary. The art style is inspired by manga and has some eerie vibes to it. The combination with the very pale backgrounds almost negates the scary-looking characters. When you enter yet another bathroom that looks exactly the same as the one before it breaks the illusion of horror. Luckily the sound saves the day for Clea. Hearing footsteps intensifying towards your position puts you on edge. Looking ahead and noticing the claws of a chaos servants at the edge of the screen is great for the suspense.
Dark memories
Clea is divided into a few “chapters”. Completing Clea will take you about 3-5 hours depending on how many times the Chaos Servants and co grabbed you. I had a few too many close encounters towards the end of solving an elaborate puzzle to really enjoy Clea in the long run. I’m not criticizing the fact that save points are scarce because that actually adds to the suspense. I’m just not a fan of cheap deaths. When you look under a door and see nobody you don’t expect to be jumped immediately after entering. I felt a few moments where the game treated me unfairly. This often resulted in doing a whole lot of backtracking that was purely put in the game to elongate it. All the maid’s diary entries with witty mentions of the dark memories present in Whitlock mansion couldn’t keep my attention after redoing them again and again.
Conclusion
Clea does the job as a 2D horror game about suspense. Whit a less boring background the game’s story and mechanics could’ve shone some more. The audio is what makes this game work but the dreaded backtracking and cheap deaths made it more a chore towards the end than I would’ve liked.
